Oahu Home Prices and Sales Increase

So much for that drop in Hawaii home prices.

While the number of single-family homes sold in Oahu in December rose nearly 10 percent over the prior year, prices also nudged up slightly, the Honolulu Board of Realtors said Wednesday.

The 346 homes that sold last month represented a 9.8 percent increase over the 315 that sold in December 2005.

The median price of a single-family home rose 0.06 percent in December, to $613,500 from $610,000; the median price for November 2006 and December 2005.

“Our residential housing markets continue to stabilize with steady or slightly rising prices combined with an increasing number of days on market,” said Berton Hamamoto, the newly elected president of the Honolulu Board of Realtors. “We expect that the market will maintain this trend into 2007.”

The number of condominiums sold in December, however, fell 16 percent to 458 units, down from 545 units sold during the same month last year. Borrowers are not turning to these locales with their Hawaii mortgages.

Condo prices rose 3.4 percent from last year to $315,500. The December condo price was nearly 2 percent higher than November’s median price of $310,000.

The preliminary total year-end sales figures show a 17 percent decline overall from 2005’s record year, with 4,041 single-family homes sold and 6,380 condominiums sold. The median home prices for the year rose 6.8 percent for single-family homes to $630,000, and rose 15.2 percent for condo to $310,000.

“While one big question mark for the housing market in 2007 is how the Federal Reserve will change [mortgage interest rates], we still expect to see a healthy housing market in the coming year,” said board research economist Harvey Shapiro.